Thursday, March 29, 2012

I am extremely excited and pleased - I've had my step by step making a copper etched cuff accepted by Art Jewelry Magazine so I will be revising what I have on my blog to suit the magazine.

Tomorrow I start 3 glorious days at BeadFX taking the Hadar Jacobson class for mixed metal clay - very very excited to start working with my hoard of other metal clay (copper, steel, , bronze etc..) I love my silver but I truly do love the other metals as well.

So hopefully will have some pics as the days go by of what we are doing in class.

Coming up on Month End for the FREE Give-Away - enter today before its too late

I made a few painted beads the other day and said that one was cracked because I thought possibly I held out too long ogling before putting in the kiln to anneal. Then the other two I made also broke and then I realized what I had done - A really DUH moment for me - I had used my flat sheet Bullseye 90 COE flat glass - which I had screened on my pattern and instead of using my Bullseye 90 COE glass rod I used my Morretti 104 COE - Trying to use two different COE's caused the problem. You must use the same COE as the glass can contract at different rates thus causing the cracking. Just shows you that after all these years I can still make a simple mistake with my glass - you must remember what glass your using . Sounds like mumbo jumbo but it is an essential knowledge needed for Lampworking-

Friday, March 23, 2012

I did not have much time last night but I sat down just to play again
I had some screen printed zentangle fired pieces from end of last year ready for beads - part of the practice sessions. I made one basic black with ivory background and colored ends then tried a multi color background - they didnt turn out too badly

- I like these practice sessions as they give me ideas for when I need to sit down and make beads. I really like the multi color - but its cracked - I did not heat up the base enough before putting into the kiln to anneal - I was admiring it too much out of the flame - LOL - but I'll pop it back into the kiln and put it back into the flame tonight and heat it up to get rid of the cracks.

I also started making a funky bead by just adding some petals - to give me some ideas - for future designs - thinking adding flowers to make 3d sort of bead - its ugly but it has given me ideas

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Played again at my Lampwork station and played with my favourite frit colour Z99 Zimmerman purple rose - I like the powder with threads of black - but I don't think Olympic Color Rods carries it any more - lucky I have a kilo left - but again last night was just playing around and practising till I know what I want to be able to do. Nothing spectacular just sitting and making for now to build up stock of basic beads

Made another couple of slabs last night - I'm almost out of my slab fusing stage - will probably go till end of the week then I can start to cut on Sunday. Bright colourful patchwork

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Another couple of slabs - building up for a cutting day which is going to be soon at this rate
hard to get good pics of the colours with the reflections - again these are bases and I will be adding some transparent dichro on top to give more depth

holes - are created when you leave openings under the clear cap - I like to make donut shape pieces - so I cut around the holes and then fuse again to get the round shape

here is what a typical melt looks like before going into the kiln - as you see I mix and match and layer (dichro cannot be on dichro which means as long as the back is plain glass it can sit on top - you just cant face dichro to dichro . then I cap with my clear

all that your seeing right now is all 90 COE material scrap that I am using up

I will be making some specific dichro pieces soon

The kiln that I love is the AIM Kiln - this one is the 8x8 but I think I'll be buying a 10x10 to add to my kiln collection. I like it because you can make just about anything in the small kilns from slab, to pieces to bracelets (there is room for the bending tool inside even the small 8 x8)

I buy extra shelves so I can make and prepare while others are in the kiln fusing or cooling makes the turnover faster. I like the kiln wash but also like the fibre paper - but the thicker fibre paper you can reuse

Did you know on the thicker fibre paper you can cut up a stack and then you can fire all at once (fires and turns brown and then back to white again ) so that it burns off the binder so it will not affect your piece ? (although I have fired a piece that did not have binder burned off and I did not see any issues with my piece )

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

So Last night was playing again with lampwork and getting back into the swing of things - it was round beads and some frit
Nothing spectacular just more or less practice practice practice - but this week I want to start making some old bead styles

Getting back into the swing of things and posting to my Blog more often

I was searching for something tonight and came across and old interview I did back in 2007 for Beading Times.
There are pics of my old studio (1/2 my basement and pretty cramped - but organized) I was reading through the questions and answers and pretty impressed that nothing has really changed with how I still lampwork.
If you want a laugh the article is listed here :

Pics of some of my old work that has inspired me to make it again - as I say old is new again so its time to resurrect a few of the flower beads,
fat cats,
bubble beads
and more over the next few weeks I think I will look back at some of my older beads and start making them again

I have posted 5 of my Zentangle patterns that I am printing by Laser Printer onto PnP Blue sheets on Etsy
you get 3 for 10.00 and you pick which patterns from the 5 you wish to have me print
They come standard mail .Of course I had to put big red writing on those that I show so they cannot be downloaded and printed - the PnP blue does not have the big red words on. Comes with PnP blue instructions and a few tips for using - great for those that like to etch -three are the same as my full sheet rubber stamps

I actually sat and did more lampworking but forgot to set the programme to anneal last night so they are annealing this morning - so by the time I get home I can take some pics and start on more beads (my goal is that I make 10 beads a night every day till the show. Right now its just getting back into making beads and getting back into a regimented studio visit every day making something - anything

The dichro slabs are approx 7" x 7" its hard to take a really good pic of the dichro and how it reflects the light from different angles. I like making this sort of patch quilt effect as when I cut it up it makes it even more unique - no two are usually the same - although sometimes I place the dicro so I do get sort of a pattern for when I cut
Holes are great as they become donuts but I dont usually have many of those
any of the slabs could have 2-5 layers by the time they are finished - I"ll make the basic like these ones and then add more to get more depth - the edges dont have to be even as I use a lot of scrap pieces to get the patchwork effect and I just keep piling it on - has a clear cap right now but that helps with the depth - if I go higher I use my larger kiln so I can get it to pool more and pull out the colours and thin the slab out for cutting

Monday, March 19, 2012

Lovely weekend - babysitting and cleaning up outside
Finally Sunday night had time to make some slabs of fused glass (here is one) and sat and started up the torch again -nothing spectacular just playing

I make a big slab of fused

dichro and then cut it with a slab saw into pieces and then refire those pieces

Nothing great but just playing

Now that its warmer and my set up is ready I can jump in each night to start making some beads for my upcoming end of May show

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Last night spent some more time sweeping and cleaning - the one good thing since I put in my patio door to replace the overhead door is that I dont have any more mice (I still find a desiccated body once in a while ) so its nice not to find droppings or mouse houses all over the place. Eventually all will be as neat as my first corner.

This first area is my right top corner closest to the door - my work table set up to accommodate 6-8 people
has a stainless steel top , my vice etc... and storage beneath for items
I have workstations for my wood pen turning, soldering , electro forming, etching and work stations for wire wrapping etc..

As I move down the aisle on the right side I have my glass cutting station with storage beneath

then I have my wire storage - wall and cupboard

storage cupboard for my wire

down to the right I have more storage - but its messy right now but have a couple of racks full of small beads and findings

farther down I have a bunch of items for clay making in bins - more storage cabinets, lights, bins etc...

then behind the wire cupboard I have my wall of enamels and enamel station where I work on enamels and right now my clay pieces (need to build a station) it has a stainless steel top as well .

on the other side of this moving wall (on wheels) are finding storage containers that stack

and two new moving walls will be built to house my hundreds of rubber stamps so I can get access to them easier for use in my work .

in the centre back I have my wood stove (still in progress) and my clay slab roller with my potters wheel stored beneath - building a clay work table shortly

then to the left of this station I have my kiln table

the right side has the smaller enamel kilns along with my metal clay kiln which I also use for painted glass

lots of storage beneath where my big gas kiln is stored along with more drawer storage

You will notice I have shelves all the way round the studio for storage

On the left side of the table are my fusing kilns - 3

right now a bit tight with items that need to be moved around

Then we have my lampwork table - sits 6 comfortably but right now have it set for just me and other areas for metal clay and stacking items out of the way till I find a place for them hopefully this weekend

I reinforced the vent hood and created space to store my craft vhs and dvd's

to the right of where I am lampworking I have my glass and frit storage

One more corner but its so messy I don't want to show just yet as this weekend the L-shaped desk comes out so I can clean up more items and give myself some more open space as I walk into my studio